Michelle Read
Nativity School of Worcester
Eighth Grade Science
Period 6: 1:15-2:01pm
January 24, 2013
Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learning Activity Plan
I. Content: Describe what it is you will teach. What is the content?
The purpose of today’s lesson is to clarify student understanding of
elements and compounds. Last class during a Bellringer assignment, I noticed
that students had a weak foundation when it comes to distinguishing and
describing elements, compounds, and mixtures. Students will work in
collaboration with their fellow scientists to discover more information about the
properties of elements and compounds featured in the video clip used as a hook.
II. Learning Goal(s): Describe what specifically students will know and be able to do
after the experience of this class.
 Create and use a T-Chart as a reading strategy to increase scientific literacy
 Identify the elements that make up compounds
 Identify the proportion of the elements within the compound
 Describe how elements and compounds are used in the world around us
III. Rationale: Explain how the content and learning goal(s) relate to your Curriculum
Unit Plan learning goals.
This classroom has very diverse learning needs. For previous classes
during our study of chemistry, I broke the class up into two groups. The high
group worked with me on challenges including electron configurations (which is
why there is a bonus problem concerning this topic on today’s worksheet) and the
lower group reviewed the atom and PEN calculations. During the Bell Ringer I
realized that students did not have a basic foundation in their scientific knowledge
of elements, compounds, and mixtures. Many of them said that a compound had
something to do with money. Last class, we spent time taking notes on this
concept and playing a computer game to distinguish between elements,
compounds, and mixtures for a limited number of substances. Today, I hope that
students will become more engaged in the study of elements and compounds and
see the way that they are used in the world around us.
IV. Assessment: Describe how you and your students will know they have reached your
learning goals.
 Students will share low stakes writing assignments
 Students and I will work together to create a model T-Chart
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Students will each create a T-Chart in their notebook during independent
reading time regarding a scientific text
My co-teacher and I will visit groups and listen to individuals sharing
their observations
As groups are carrying out the jigsaw activity, my co-teacher and I will
observe, listen, question, probe, suggest, and encourage
Each student will be responsible for answering the worksheet questions
Formative homework assignment in which students will write a letter to a
fifth grade student explaining the difference between an element and a
compound and how we experience them in our daily lives
V. Personalization: Describe how you will provide for individual student strengths and
needs. How will you and your lesson consider the needs of each student and scaffold
learning?
Grouping and role assignment is a major part of this lesson that will help
to address the needs of each student. My high flying students also have the most
behavioral issues. By assigning them the role of being in charge of the analysis
portion of the assignment and leading the discussion within their group, I hope to
keep them challenged. Also, the bonus question will be an additional challenge.
By creating T-Charts and by collaborating with their fellow scientists, the
students who may usually struggle through a scientific text will be able to gain a
better understanding of an element and a compound in relation to the text.
Each student will have an assigned role. Please refer to the role sheet for
the descriptions of the roles. The pictures on the reading as well as the
introductory video will hook students and help them to see how the elements and
compounds are used in daily life.
VI. Activity description and agenda: Describe the activities that will help your students
understand the content of your class lesson by creating an agenda with time frames
for your class. Be prepared to explain why you think each activity will help students
on the path toward understanding.
Time
Teacher Activity
Co-Teacher Activity
Student Activity
1:15Greet students at the Circulate during Do Now Class enters room, sits at
11:20 door, circulate to
their seat and answers Do
ensure students are
Now prompt in their
on task and
Interactive Science
answering their Do
Notebooks, “What is a
Now
reading strategy that you
use to help you
understand a text?”
1:20Lead sharing of Do Pass out “Mission of
Share Do Now Answers
1:23
Now Answers,
Nativity”
1:23Model T-Chart
Model T-Chart
Practice T-Chart
1:25
1:25Show video clip,
Circulate to ensure
Get in groups, distribute
1:30
Assign Groups
students are on task
papers
1:301:50
1:502:10
Circulate to ensure
students are on task,
answer questions,
encourage and
probe for higher
level thinking
Circulate to ensure
students are on task,
answer questions,
encourage and
probe for higher
level thinking
Wrap up activity
and distribute
homework
Circulate to ensure
students are on task,
answer questions,
encourage and probe for
higher level thinking
Independent Reading and
completion of T-Chart
Circulate to ensure
students are on task,
answer questions,
encourage and probe for
higher level thinking
Discussion and analysis
of reading with group,
filling out the element
worksheet
VII. List the Massachusetts Learning Standards this lesson addresses.
PS. 5
Recognize that there are more than 100 elements that combine in a
multitude of ways to produce compounds that make up all of the living and nonliving
things that we encounter.
PS. 7
Give basic examples of elements and compounds.
SIS1.
Make observations, raise questions, and formulate hypotheses.
VIII.
Reflection
a. In light of all areas of planning, but especially in terms of your stated purpose and
learning goals, in what ways was the activity(ies) successful? How do you know?
In what ways was it not successful? How might the activity be planned
differently another time?
The students were really hooked by the introduction video. Students worked well
in their roles. In the future, I would not include the element and compound
worksheets in one folder as we did not get to the compound part of the activity.
All of these worksheets were overwhelming for the students and they were
confused about what was expected of them. Next time, I would hand out the
reading first, then the element worksheet. The modeling of the T-Chart took more
time than I thought, and in the future I will be more conscious of the time it takes
to model a new skill. Due to the time it took to model the reading skills, I will
need to continue the lesson tomorrow in order to meet my learning goals.
b. What did you learn from the experience of this lesson that will inform your next
LAP?
Next class, I will continue this lesson beginning with the compounds. I revised the
homework, asking students to read the compound text and create their own Tchart in order to save class time and prepare for their analytical discussion. After
students have read their compound text and completed their discussion, I will
replay the introductory video. I will stop the video after each element/compound
and have the group that worked on that element/compound share their knowledge
with the class.